The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1887-05-12
other to sing lulabies and pick up

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The change from a state of nature,
in which the first pair and their de-
cendants for centuries must have lived,
to that of keeping focks and cultivat-
ing fields was necessarily slow-per-
haps the work of ages. But the fiat
had gone forth" In the sweat of
thy face shalt thou eat bread" and the
race was doomed to toll.
In the whirl of the centuries, during
which mankind increased and multi
piled upon the earth, journeying from
place to place, the well-watered valleys
Of the Tigris, the Nile and the Eu-
pirates, were found to be most pro-
ductive and the inhabitants of these
countries naturally became farmers,
while the people who lived in the hill
countries of Syria and the lands east
of the Mediterranean as naturally en-
gagged in cattle raising, exchanging
the products of their f1ocks for the
wheat and barley Of the river valleys.
Egypt and Chaldea, from the earliest
period Of recorded time, have been
celebrated as the lands Of corn. The
valley of the Nile, varying in width
:from seven to eight miles and extend
ing in length some four to five hun
dred miles, was of unsurpassed fertil-
ity, and for centuries was denominated
the granary of the world. The river
annually overlooked it's banks, leaving
an ~alluvial deposit of mud and slime,
constituting the richest possible top
dressing. On the subsistence Of the
water, occurring about the End Of
October, the farmer had only to SOW
the seed, turn in a herd of swine to
tramp it in, and await the harvest.
This simple method was sufficient, un-
til the density of the population in
creased the demand for bread beyond
the power of this method to supply.
Necessity, as in all ages, whetted the
edge of invention, and the Egyptian
began to introduce business methods,
in farming, applying improved nipple
ments to agriculture, as evidenced in
hieroglyphics found depicted upon
their ancient tombs.
The Greeks, in going over into the
Nile valley after corn, observed the
advanced state of ~husbandry prevail
ing in Egypt, and carried home with
them an improved knowledge Of agri-
culture. So that, a thousand years
before Christ, farming, among the
Greeks, was IN a reasonably flourish
ing state, which steadily advanced
until in the days of the nations glory,
it is said to have attained a high de-
gree of perfection, under the pressure
of an intelligent and dense population.
The Greeks had elegant horses, i'm
proved breeds of cattle, swine and
sheep. They understood the value
and Importance Of home-produced
fertilizers. They composted with care
and economy. They cultivated their
lands thoroughly, generally ploughing
three times before sowing their wheat
or barley, and often subsoiling. Many
of their farming tools were not unlike
those in use by Guilford county
farmers of today. They cultivated as
siduously a great variety of fruits,
and had an extended agricultural lit
erature. And yet the Greeks, not
w~ithstanding they have led the world,
in the production of poets and orators,
painters and sculptors, historians and
philosophers, warriors and statesmen,
have been surpassed, in agricultural
pursuits, by many subseq uent nations,
for the reason that among the native,
Greeks, farming was not a source of
pride. Labor in the field was regarded
as ig%nominious, and was performed
almost exclusively by a subdued and
mental race, scarcely superior to the
slave of the South in ante-6el7um times.
Not so, among the Romans. No
greater praise could be bestowed upon
an ancient Roman than to give him
the name of a good husbandman.
Their most renowned men were fond
of the farm, and regarded agriculture
as the most honorable of pursuits.
Their greatest poets sang the praises
of farm-life in immortal pastorals,
which are read by the boys of this
age in all the classical schools of
Christendom. Cato, distinguished as
an ornate orator, an able warrior, and
an astute statesman, was yet loved
and honored most because of a book
he wrote on farming. Cincinnatus
was called from the plough to COM
mand the armies of his country at a
moment of supremest peril. And
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